Picker-stick parallel motion



Aug. 12, 1930. E.-N. HATCHER 1,772,808

PICKER STICK PARALLEL MOTION Filed April 4, 1929 gwuemkoa 55 7 E. Mflaich er Fatented Aug. 12, 1930 UNETED ELDER N. HATCHER, OF MANCHESTER, GEORGIA PICKER-STICK PARALLEL MOTION Application filed April 4,

This invention relates to picker stick parallel motions for looms and the general object of the present invention is to provide readily adjustable means whereby the tongue engaging the edge of the picker stick and binding it in place may be shifted vertically either upward or downward to thus hold the picker stick in proper parallel.

A further object is to provide a device of this character which may be used to adjust the picker stick.

A further object is to provide a parallel tongue picker stick which is so constructed as to cause the picker to throw the shuttle 1 straight and thus eliminate the shuttle wearing or splintering, thus preserving the life of the shuttle, lowering shuttle expenses and securing the better run of the warp, eliminating seconds and increasing production.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the acco1n panying drawings, wherein I have illustrated a standard stand and picker stick shoe.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a parallel motion for picker sticks constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section enlarged on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross section enlarged on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates the usual stand secured to the lay rock shaft 11. The upper face 12 of this stand is formed to provide a rocker surface upon which the sole or rocker 13 of the shoe 1% is supported. The stand is provided with the usual tongue 15 which extends up through a slot 16 in the sole of the shoe. The picker stick 17 is disposed through an opening in 1929. Serial No. 352,516.

stick is supported in the housing 20 and en gages the edge of the picker stick, the flanges 22 fitting over the sides of the stick and the flat face of the tongue engaging the edge of the stick. The tongue bears against the usual wedge-shaped bearing plug 23.

A picker stick bolt 24 passes through the housing 20 through a vertical slot in the tongue 21, through the picker stick and through a follower 25 which embraces the outer edge of the picker stick and bears against the flat face of the sole within the housing. The bolt, of course, carries a nut 26, the head of the bolt bearing against the outer face of the housing 20. So far I have described the ordinary or common construction.

By reference to Figure 1, it will be seen that the inner face 2? of the housing 20 is vertically curved inward from the point near the top of the housing to a point adjacent the sole 13 and that the tongue 21 has its face 28 confronting the face 27 also curved to conform to the curvature of the face 27. This face 28 is provided for a portion of its length with transversely extending rack teeth 29. The wall of the housing 20 is bored as at 30, this bore intersecting the inner face 27 of the housing wall and one end of this bore is screw-threaded as at 31. Extending through this bore is a shaft 32, one end of which is screw-threaded at 33 to engage the screw-threads 31, the other end of the shaft being provided with a many-sided head 34.

The shaft is provided with longitudinally extending gear teeth 35 so that the shaft in effect constitutes a gear wheel, the teeth of which engage the rack teeth 29. The screwthreaded end of the shaft is provided with a jam nut 36 whereby the shaft may be locked in any adjusted position.

it will be seen that with this construction by loosening the bolt 24 and, of course, loosening the jam nut 36, the shaft may be rotated by means of a wrench to shift the tongue 21 upward or downward and this upward or downward shifting of the tongue will cause not only the tongue to shift, but to bind upon the portion of the picker stick below the bolt or the portion of the picker I 1 to Northrop 1 5519.590 gran stick above the bolt and thus will cause the adjustment of the picker stick. This adjustment of the tongue eii'ects its contact with the ping 23.

It is of course, to be unde stood that the shoe 1% is formed, as it is on ah. looms. for the pin x I l causing the icker carried on the picker to travel 1 a st 'aight line parallel upper in beam upper taco of the sl It is necessary to adjust t TO prevent the picker he? point where it delivers ie it of the lay beam. in all forms o use known to me by means of a e general character of he tongue 21 shown in my drawings. These tongtu howev i are straight upon tl'ieir iusit e .ted in the patent "ct l'iiay Q6, 1925.

In all. other picker stir parallel motions known to me. as for instance in the Northrop parallel motion above referred to, if the picker on the end of the picker stick is too low, it is raised by screwing inward on a set screw bearing against the picker stick which lengthens the d stance from the front end of the shoe H in my device to the picker on the ick. if the pick: too high with it box. th s screw 's not used and the only means of adjustment 1 aces as 2] to insert a leather wedge between the tongue and the stick the lower end of the tongne'which acts to shorten the distance from the fr at end of the shoe to the picker. ll l'iere a s screw used for separating the t s ick 11 order to 'aise ongue trom the picker ti he picker. and the bolt passm through the i c stick and the upward extension of the i too treat. the tongue is very liable to a" hole through which the bolt a id the same is true when a leather used the bcttom. The tongue is come upon its inner ifvints the con ave face of .i 20. Thus by raising the tongue 21 through the action or" the toothed shaft 32 the upper portion of the stick )8 forced outward a :d by lOWQIlDQ' the tongue the lower portion the stick 1S forced outward and the upper 'ZOltlOl'l inward so as to secure the desired l tance of ad ustment between the forward end of the rocker l3 and the pick when the th e latter is at the discharge end of the shuttle lioff. far as I am aware. my construction he .onstruction ordip r the con- ;iae -atent orthro ietoft :e iefe'ued to. is that the work dom gue 1s a straight tone er. of sudden jerks when. in motion, lets the stick work down. Hence the pick gets out of parallelism with the bed of the shuttle box. The improved tongue :21 because of the fact that it has a conv-i; face fitting against a concave face upon the housing 20 and because is provided with notches engaging with e toothed shaft 32, cannot work down. 1e follower rests upon the bed of the shoe and obviously under these circumstances,

is no possibility of the tongue 21 workdownward nor the stick 17 working down- It is impossible for the stick to work .rd. This is on the main reasons why zcker sticks get on parallel. Of course are others such as the stick becoming var ed or because the wedge 23 in the foot lay wear.

Another difficulty with the ordinary parallel motion is that the picker stick and the picker are lable to jump up. This is for the reason t the lower end of the tongue ordinarily 1 d is st night. The picker stick is moved wit quick jerk by means of the usual. lug str contact with the bumper at the delivery end of the shuttle her, it tends to cause the stick, t ie shoe and all connected parts to jump up. in my construction, however, the lower end cot tof of my parallel tongue is concave and is dis posed lose to the wedge in any position of he shoe so that it is iractically impossible for the shoe and the picker stick with it to jump up.

in the Northrop Patentl,539,590 to which u ins line hitting the side or top of the ra ice at the other end 0? the loom, causie shuttle to splinter and wear out just 1? )ltflifil was out of parallel. 1;. pa lel tongue holds the shoe down on the stand at all times and particuthe shoe is tilted over so that I "antage of my construction on on the usual check strap a point where this check strap is prac ically straigh The ordinary a strap has a tension adjustment at its middle and this strap catches or impedes the picker stick in the middle position of the picker stick so that when the shuttle strikes pick r the strap the picker back to the outer end of its travel.

.n my con truction, the concave end of the tongue 21 bearsagainst the'wedge 23 particularly where the picker stick is in its middle position and this frictional resistance of the pin'23 or wedge tends to cause I a plant having two thousand looms with two 'check straps to a loom will save a considerable amount.

It is to be particularly understood that my invention is applicable to all parallel tongues on every make of loom as these parallel tongues in all makes of looms do the same work, and furthermore that it applies to all difierent sizes of shoe. 1, therefore, wish to cover the application of my invention to all parallel tongues and all looms and broadly speaking my invention particularly resides in the provision of a tongue and shoe in which the housing of the shoe and the face of the tongue are respectively concave and convex and have a relatively close fit with relation to each other so that when the tongue is raised, the picker will he raiseo and by moving the tongue down, the picker will be lowered. This does not mean that the picker stick is raised or lowered, but that the angle of this picker stick is changed so as to vary the distance between the shoe or rocker and the picker carried by the picker stick.

I claim 1. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe, a spring, a strap connected with the spring and with the picker stick and acting to return it to outward position, the shoe being provided with a housing, a tongue disposed between the housing and the picker stick, a bolt passing through the h ousing, through the tongue and through the picker stick, the tongue being longitudinally slotted to permit the passage of the bolt, and means mounted on the housing and engaging the tongue for raising or lowering the tongue.

2. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe, a spring, a strap connected with the spring and with the picker stick and acting to return it to outward posi tion, the shoe being provided with a housin a tongue disposed between the housing and the picker stick, a bolt passing through the housing, through the tongue and through the picker stick, the tongue being longitudinally slotted to permit the passage of the bolt, and means mounted on the housing for raising or lowering the tongue including a trans verse shaft having -engaging gear teeth on theconfro-nting face of the tongue.

3. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe, a strap and spring connected to the picker stick and tendingto return it to outward position, the shoe being provided with a housing, a tongue between the picker stick and housing, the tongue being longitudinally slotted,"a bolt passing through the housing, throughsaid slotand through, the picker stick,the wall of the housing confronting the tongue being concavely curved vertically and that face of the tongue confronting the housing wall being convexly curved vertically in con formity with theconcave face of said wall, and means mounted on the wall whereby the tongue maybe adjusted either upward or downward.

f. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe, a strap and spring connected to the picker stick and tending to return it to outward position, the shoe being provided with a housing, a tongue between the pic rer stick and housing, the tongue being longitudinally slotted, a bolt passing through the housing, through said slot and through the picker stick, the wall of the housing confronting the tongue being concavely curved vertically and that face of the tongue confronting the housing wall being convexly curved vertically in conformity with the concave face of said wall, and means mounted on the wall whereby the tongue may be adjusted either upward or downward including a shaft passing transversely through the wall and having gear teeth, the tongue having meshing gear teeth on its convex face, the shaft having means whereby it may-be turnedand held in ad justed position.

5. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe, a strap-and spring connected to the picker stick and tending to return it to outward position, the shoe being provided with a housing, a tongue between the' picker stick and housing, the tongue being longitudinally slotted, a bolt passing through the housing, through said slot and through the picker stick, the wall of the housing confronting the tongue being concavely curved vertically and that face of the tongue confronting the housing wall being convexly curved vertically in conformity with the concave face of said wall, and means mounted on the wall whereby the ton ue may beadiusted either upward or downward including a shaft passing transversely through the wall and having gear teeth, the tongue having meshing gear teeth on its convex face, one end of the shaft being screw-threaded and having screw-threaded engagement with the wall of the housing and with a jam nut, the other end of the shaft having means whereby it may be rotated.

6. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe through which the picker stick passes and having an upwardly projecting portion formed with a concave inner face, and a tongue disposed between this upwardly projecting portion and the picker stick, the tongue having an opening, a bolt passing through the picker stick and through the opening in the tongue and into the upwardly projecting portion, the upwardly projecting portion and the confronting face of the tongue being curved, the tongue being adjustable up or down with relation to the shoe.

7. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe through which the picker stick passes, the shoe being provided with a housing, the inner face of the housing being concave, tongue disposed between the housing and the picker stick and having a conv face disposed within the housing and fitting the concavity thereof, the tongue being slotted, a bolt passing through the picker stick through the slot of the tongue and into the housing, and means whereby the tongue may be vertically adjusted with reference to the housing.

8. A picker stick parallel motion including a stand, a picker stick, a shoe through which the picker stick passes, the shoe being provided with a housing, the inner face of the housing being concave, a tongue disposed between the housing and the picker stick and having a convex face disposed within the housing and fitting the concavity thereof, the tongue being slotted, a bolt passing through the picker stick through the slot of the tongue and into the housing, and means whereby the tongue may be vertically adjusted with reference to the housing, the tongue extending below the under face of the shoe and having its face remote from the picker stick concavely curved, and a bearing plug 'mounted in the stand and with the end of which the concave face of the tongue engages.

9. A picker stick parallel motion including a longitudinally slotted stand, a picker stick extending through the slot, a shoe rocking upon the stand and having a slot through which the picker stick extends, the shoe having an upwardly extending housing defining one wall of the slot, the inner face of the housing being concave, a tongue disposed between the picker stick and the housing and having a convex face confronting the concave face of the housing, the tongue being slotted, a bolt passing through the picker stick through the slot of the tongue and through the housing, means whereby the tongue may be vertically adjusted with relation to the housing and the picker stick and a plug projecting from one wall of the slot in the stand toward the picker stick and tongue, the tongue being extended downward through the slot of the stand and this extension having a concave face bearing against the end of the plu 10. In a picker stick parallel motion, a shoe, a picker stick extending through the shoe, the shoe having an upwardly extending housing and a tongue disposed between the picker stick and the housing, the tongue having teeth and a toothed shaft being disposed in said housing, the teeth of which engage the teeth on the tongue whereby the tongue may be vertically adjusted.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature. I

ELDER N. HATCI-IER. 

